Louisiana Rebellion of 1768

The Louisiana Rebellion of 1768 (28 October 1768-26 October 1769) was an attempt by German and French settlers in Louisiana to prevent the Kingdom of France from handing over French Louisiana to Spain. The local settlers despised coming under the rule of a foreign power, and the Spanish administrator Jean-Jacques Blaise d'Abbadie attempted to appease the locals by taking complaints; his death in 1765 outraged the underrepresented people of the state. On 5 March 1766, Spanish governor Antonio de Ulloa and 75 Spanish Army troops arrived in the state, and Ulloa infuriated the population by closing off all channels in the state except for one (this was aimed at reducing smuggling) and by banning trade with France or her colonies. In October 1768, the people built barricades in the streeets and rioted, and a Spanish Navy ship was blown up in the harbor of New Orleans. Ulloa was forced out of his La Balize home to negotiate for peace, and the rebels forced him to depart from Louisiana. The French settlers ruled the region for a while, but King Louis XV of France gave his approval for Spanish general Alejandro O'Reilly to arrive in the state with a large army to crush the uprising. Resistance was futile, and the leaders of the rebellion were put to death. In the following years, trade restrictions were lifted and the slave emancipation process was eased; Louisiana would remain a part of Spain until it was ceded to the French Consulate in 1801.